Turyareeba Yonah v Kahangire Eliab (Civil Application 1188 of 2023)

Court of Appeal · [2024] UGCA 39 · 2024 Application Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Application by motion to adduce additional evidence in a pending civil appeal (Civil Appeal No. 003 of 2017)

Decision

Application to adduce additional evidence dismissed; costs to abide the outcome of the pending appeal

The full judgment

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Holding

The Court dismissed the application to adduce additional evidence in the pending appeal. Although the proposed evidence (correspondence from the Chief Justice's office and a magistrate confirming no records existed for the Kayonza judgment) was relevant to the appeal, the applicant failed the due-diligence requirement: he knew the Kayonza judgment was a pivotal document early in the High Court trial and the records were public documents obtainable through a transparent process, yet he produced no evidence of any genuine search before judgment. The application was also filed nearly six years after he obtained the information in October 2017, an inordinate delay he did not explain, raising suspicion it was an afterthought to revive a stalled appeal.

Facts

The applicant, judgment debtor in a land dispute, sought leave to adduce additional evidence in his pending appeal (Civil Appeal No. 003 of 2017) from a High Court judgment in HCCS No. 027 of 2009. The High Court had relied substantially on a certified copy of a 1966 Kayonza Magistrate's Court judgment (Exhibit P1) in finding the respondent owned the suit land, holding the applicant bound by it though not a party. The applicant wished to introduce two 2017 letters: an inquiry from the Chief Justice's office and a reply from the Grade I Magistrate at Ntungamo stating no records existed for the Kayonza file. He contended he discovered the judgment's non-existence only after the High Court ruling. The respondent showed the Kayonza judgment had been pleaded since 2009, admitted at trial without genuine contest, and that the applicant knew of it throughout.

Issues

Whether the applicant satisfied the conditions on which an appellate court may exercise its discretion to admit additional evidence on appeal under Rule 30(1)(b) of the Court of Appeal Rules.

Orders

The application is dismissed.
Costs shall abide the outcome of the appeal.

Key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Appeals — Additional Evidence — Exceptional Circumstances for Exercise of Discretion

An appellate court may exercise its discretion to admit additional evidence on appeal only in exceptional circumstances, namely where the evidence could not, with due diligence, have been produced at trial, is relevant to the issues, is credible, would probably influence the result, is supported by affidavit attaching proof of the evidence, and the application is brought without undue delay.

Civil Procedure — Additional Evidence — Due Diligence — Public Documents Obtainable at Trial

A party who knew at trial that a document was a pivotal piece of evidence against him, and who could have obtained it through the transparent public-records process of the relevant court, fails the due-diligence requirement and may not adduce that evidence as additional evidence on appeal.

Civil Procedure — Additional Evidence — Inordinate and Unexplained Delay

An application to adduce additional evidence filed nearly six years after the information was obtained, with no explanation for the delay, is tainted by inordinate delay that strongly discounts the strength of the applicant's case.

Evidence — Public Documents — Section 73 Evidence Act — Weight

Although a public document may require no further proof under section 73(iii) of the Evidence Act, its evidential weight may be discounted where its conclusions appear to be the product of a hastily conducted search lacking detail of the records examined.

Legislation cited (6)

Judicature Act s.7
Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 2(2)
Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 30(1)(b)
Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 43(1)(2)
Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 44(1)
Evidence Act s.73(iii)

Cases cited (7)

Commissioner Land Registration & Anor v Emmanuel Lukwagu (Civil Application No. 12 of 2016)
Liberty Construction Ltd v Lamba Enterprises Ltd (Civil Application No. 318 of 2021)
Bismillah Trading & Anor versus Falcon Estates, CA Civil Application No. 328/2028
Attorney General & Anor v Afric Cooperative Society Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 6 of 2012)
Hon. Anifa Bangirana Kawoya v National Council for Higher Education (Miscellaneous Application No. 8 of 2013)
Attorney General v Paul Kawanga Semwogerere & Anor (Civil Application No. 12 of 2016)
AG & IGG versus Afric Cooperative Society Ltd, Civil Application No. 12/2016

Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.